We have all been there. You download an application from Google Play, then all of a sudden it’s sending you notifications every ten minutes and annoys you to no end. Thankfully, with the introduction of Jelly Bean, Google has enabled the ability to disable any given application’s notifications entirely. If you have a pesky app doing this and you want it to stop, follow these simple instructions. 

For those new to Android, and the target audience of this guide, you may not know this, but taking screenshots on an Android device used to be quite the task. In fact, if you didn’t own a Samsung device, you had to root your phone and install a 3rd party app that would take them, or set up the Android SDK. Most of us could never figure out why the Android team wouldn’t make this ability widely available, but now that Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly bean are seeing wider adoption, we no longer have to worry about it. So since most of you are buying devices that run one of these two versions of Android, let’s talk about how you can take screenshots and them share them quickly with your friends. 

You always want to make sure your Android device is secure. But what happens when you accidentally leave your phone somewhere and someone picks it up? In some cases, they’re likely to turn it on to see if there is contact information available. Luckily, Android offers a fantastic option for placing owner’s information right on the lock screen for this circumstance.

Let’s go ahead and set it up, that way the next time someone finds your phone, you’ll get it back safe and sound. 

When setting up your Google account on an Android device, it will port all of your already saved numbers to that device. But what if you want to add a new contact to your account after the fact? There are a couple of ways to go about this, so let’s get started. 

One of the fantastic aspects and bonuses of Android is the ability to “side-load” or install 3rd party aplications that are not from Google Play or the Amazon Appstore. Apps can be side-loaded from Gmail, your SD Card, or your Internet browser once the app is downloaded. Android devices do not come with this function enabled automatically, but it must be turned on by the device’s owner. Doing so is as easy as just pressing a few buttons so let’s get to it. 

With the introduction of Ice Cream Sandwich (followed by Jelly Bean), Google implemented new icons through their Holo theme and Action Bar to represent the cut, copy, select all, and paste features inside an email, text message/box, or basically anywhere that you would need to perform one of these actions.

With proper research into the issue, a user could find out what these new icons mean, but if you’re new to the Android OS, it could be confusing and intimidating at first. It also doesn’t help that you may see them in an Action Bar at the top of one app and then the bottom of the next app. In some places you will even see the OS spell out “SELECT ALL” or ‘”PASTE,” yet use icons for each in another. Either way, this is what they stand for. 

With the release of the Jelly Bean operating system, it brought many new features for Android users to take advantage of. One of new features is called Sound Search. Sound Search can be directly compared to other applications like Shazam and SoundHound, the main difference being that Google’s Sound Search utilizes their own servers to recognize the music and then direct you to Google Play to purchase the song.

Google created a Sound Search widget that you can easily place on any homescreen for you to find out what that certain song is. Let’s go ahead and set it up. 

One of the many desirable aspects of the Android operating system is the ability to customize the look of your device to however you see fit. One of the easier ways to do this is by applying what is called a “live wallpaper.” A live wallpaper is an animated image that takes the place of a stagnant image on your homescreen. Some live wallpapers are interactive and react to certain gestures or motions on the device.

They are easily set, just like a normal wallpaper, but depending on the live wallpaper, you can spend hours customizing them. Here is how you set one up.